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Gov. Andrew Cuomo is headed to Washington, D.C., where he will make an announcement at 4:30 p.m. with a coalition of fellow governors at the Marriott Marquis, 901 Massachusetts Ave.

The state Legislature and Congress are on their respective mid-winter breaks.

At 9 a.m., the New York State Minority Health Council hosts its first quarterly meeting for the calendar year, 90 Church St., Room 4C, Manhattan.

At 10 a.m., in support of increased pay for direct support professionals who work with people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities in our community, Arc of Onondaga and The Arc of Madison Cortland will hold a news conference, Memorial Hall, Onondaga County War Memorial, 515 Montgomery St., Syracuse.

Also at 10 a.m., “The Brian Lehrer Show” features NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and state Attorney General Letitia James, WNYC.

Also at 10 a.m., the Educational Conference Board (ECB) will hold a briefing for legislators, legislative staff and media, Room 711-A, LOB, State Street, Albany.

Also at 10 a.m., state Sen. Jessica Ramos holds a press conference to discuss a new bill she introduced that would eliminate the tipped wage for food service workers and service employees in New York state, 32-37 Junction Blvd., Queens.

At 1 p.m., Hochul will make an announcement on the effort to combat heroin and opioid addiction, National Council on Alcoholism & Drug Dependence – Rochester Area, 1931 Buffalo Road, Rochester.

At 2:30 p.m., Westchester County Executive George Latimer will make an important announcement regarding the future of the County’s popular North County Trailway, Trail Access on Route 117, West of Route 9A, Town of Mount Pleasant.

At 5 p.m., NYC Ydanis Rodriguez will be joined by Dominican dignitaries, community leaders and organizations in Little Dominican Republic/ Pequeña Dominican Republic within Washington Heights to denounce the travel warning issued on Feb. 12 by the U.S. State Department, St. Nicholas Avenue & West 181st Street, Manhattan.

President Trump is changing course and will keep 200 troops in Syria after an earlier decision to remove U.S. forces from the country.

Mark Harris, the GOP candidate for the 9th Congressional District in North Carolina, took the stand to give his testimony Thursday at the ongoing District 9 hearing. At the end of his testimony, Harris said a new election should be called.

The new attorney general, William Barr, is preparing for the special counsel to deliver a report in coming weeks on the results of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, two officials briefed on the Justice Department’s preparations said.

Pope Francis convened a meeting of Roman Catholic leaders worldwide to grapple directly with clerical child sexual abuse, a scourge that has for decades devastated some corners of his vast church while being utterly ignored and denied in others.

GOP consultant Roger Stone was spared from jail and allowed to remain free on bond after he confessed to the “stupidity” of his posting a photo on social media featuring a federal judge’s face next to an apparent rifle scope crosshair.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sought to specifically link the Times Square ad criticizing her opposition to the Amazon deal to the family of Robert Mercer, the financier who had given away millions to Republican and conservative causes and whose daughter, Rebekah, was a key player in the 2016 campaign of Trump.

Bob McManus in The New York Post: “No one expects the mayor to solve those messes by himself, but de Blasio doesn’t even try. The ­unraveling of HQ2 is a textbook example of his aloof, not-my-problem style of governance.”

A SUNY Alfred professor writes: “The Empire State has stymied the construction of the necessary transmission infrastructure, so Con Ed is unable to keep up with demand. In addition to his decision to ban hydraulic fracturing in 2014 — aborting any hope that New York could profit from some of its most valuable natural resources — Cuomo and his regulators have denied necessary permits for three separate natural-gas pipeline projects.”

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer entered the fray involving an investment firm known as the “Destroyer of Newspapers” and its hostile attempt to buy upstate media giant Gannett Co.

Corey Johnson, speaker of the New York City Council and one of the most prominent HIV-positive politicians in the U.S., called for the National Institutes of Health to exercise its “march-in” rights and break the patent held by Gilead Sciences to exclusively manufacture and market HIV prevention drug Truvada, or PrEP.

A Manhattan Federal judge rejected an effort to force Mark Peters, the fired NYC Commissioner of the Department of Investigation, to testify about kids poisoned by lead paint in NYCHA housing.

President Trump is targeting New York City immigrants for deportation, according to a new report by city Comptroller Scott Stringer.

During an unrelated press conference in Lower Manhattan, Stringer said de Blasio should take a lesson from former Mayor John Lindsay, whose brief bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972 failed miserably, and focus on his current job.

Keith Raniere, the accused leader of the sex cult Nxivm, insisted to a Brooklyn judge that he has no issue with his heiress co-defendant paying for his lawyers, too.

Single parents who attend community colleges could benefit from a pilot child care program proposed by the governor.

A Rensselaer County grand jury indicted a city code enforcement officer and an unidentified co-defendant after the state attorney general’s Public Integrity Unit investigated the city’s sale of a wooded lot to a former city engineer.

About 70 teachers gathered outside the entrance to Newburgh Free Academy’s main campus before the morning bell to make a statement about safety at the school.

The developer of a construction site on West 66th Street wants to build a 775-foot residential tower with views of Central Park. But last month, the city put a halt to that plan because 160 feet of the height, roughly 16 floors, was reserved for air conditioning and other mechanical equipment, a massive amount aimed at pushing upper-floor apartments higher.

It’s not uncommon to spy a seal basking in the sun along Staten Island’s South Shore. That’s partially because Raritan Bay now attracts a greater diversity of marine life, which is a result of the Clean Water Act and tougher enforcement of pollution laws. But residents on Staten Island’s South Shore fear the hard-won improvements will be at risk if a proposed 23.5 mile underground natural gas pipeline is approved.

As head of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, James Patchett was at the center of the negotiations to bring Amazon to the city. And he was one the first people to learn last week that Amazon was pulling out of the deal.

An increasing number of people in the city who are in the country illegally, are being arrested and even deported.

Sources say a former prosecutor and longtime ally of former mayor Rudy Giuliani will likely be named the federal monitor for New York City’s public housing next week, tasked with addressing the failures in public housing and improving conditions for hundreds of thousands of tenants.

Mayor de Blasio is no stranger to Iowa, campaigning there for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and returning in December 2017. This weekend he will head there again, with his own ambitions in mind, as he mulls a run for President in 2020.

Kamala Harris, the California Senator running for president, told the Reverend Al Sharpton she wanted to visit Sylvias in Harlem. So the reverend delivered.

The Albany County Department of Health says two people have tested positive for legionella. The health department says both cases are linked to the Promenade assisted living facility on Western Avenue in Albany. Water samples from Promenade have tested positive for Legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaire’s Disease.

In an effort to understand and learn from the history of capital punishment in this country, UAlbany has collected thousands of documents tracing hundreds of years.

Amsterdam-based ambulance service the Greater Amsterdam Volunteer Ambulance Corps, is now responsible for responding to 911 calls coming from the area — once covered by the now closed Ambulance Service of Fulton County.

Fair funding according to the Albany Common Council is $12.5 million from the state. It is the amount that has been requested year after year.

In the town of East Greenbush, Supervisor Jack Conway says taxpayers will likely see their bills increase by one percent if Governor Cuomo does not reverse his decision to reduce AIM funding, which many local governments rely on each year.

In New York, 50,000 cars go past a stopped school bus every single day. Officials with the New York Association for Pupil Transportation say it doesn’t have to be this way, and it all starts with education. They’re highlighting Operation Safe Stop at their annual Winter Workshop.

ESPN’s College Gameday show will no longer be in Syracuse– instead hosted at ESPN headquarters in Connecticut after the death of a Syracuse man who was struck by a car driven by coach Jim Boeheim.

Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo announced Thursday she had sent a letter to the International Joint Commission requesting the governing body reduce the water inflow into Lake Ontario. The letter was also sent to local representatives and Gov. Cuomo.

Some of Erie County’s top positions are set to see a raise for the first time in more than 20 years. County legislators approved pay bumps for the county executive, comptroller and sheriff Thursday.

As part of a county-wide initiative, the Erie County Department of Social Services is hosting several meetings to hear the thoughts and concerns of the communities they serve.

The baseball players’ union is going to bat for workers at New Era’s Derby plant. It’s urging the company to keep its plant in Derby open.

Syracuse police identified the man who was outside his vehicle when he was struck and killed by Syracuse men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim late last night as Jorge Jimenez, 51.

Jimenez was a passenger in a vehicle that lost control on the highway striking a guard rail. People in the car got out and proceeded to walk on the highway near the vehicle, police said.

Boeheim, 74, is cooperating with investigators and passed field sobriety tests, officials said.

“I am heartbroken that a members of our community died as the result of last night’s accident,” Boeheim said in a statement. “Juli and I extend our deepest sympathies to the Jimenez family. Out of respect for those involved, I will not be providing further comment at this time.”

Paul Manafort, the longtime Republican consultant who spent five months as Trump’s campaign chairman during the 2016 election, will be sentenced for multiple federal crimes at a U.S. district court in Virginia on March 8, according to a court filing.

In a startling statement, Republican candidate Mark Harris called for a new election in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District “to restore the confidence of voters.”

Jussie Smollett, upset by his salary and seeking publicity, staged a fake assault on himself a week after writing himself a threatening letter, the Chicago police said after the “Empire” actor surrendered to face a charge of filing a false police report.

A federal judge banned Roger Stone from speaking publicly about his case after hauling him back to court to answer for an Instagram post attacking her.

The House is set to vote on legislation next week to enhance background checks for gun purchases, as Democrats seek to move quickly on a top priority since taking the majority.

Patagonia announced it has an additional $10 million in profits on its books for 2018 as a result of Trump’s “irresponsible tax cut” last year, which lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. Instead of investing the additional dollars back into its business, the company said it would give $10 million to grassroot groups fighting climate change.

New York State hasn’t given up on winning a future Amazon expansion project, according to Cuomo’s economic development czar, Howard Zemsky. “We should never burn bridges,” he said. “The governor is not burning any bridges — certainly with Amazon. They are a huge employer here in the state.”

Onondaga County lawmaker Casey Jordan wants Amazon, now that the online retailing giant has been jilted by New York City, to know it’s welcome to bring 25,000 jobs to the suburban Syracuse town he represents.

The Erie County Legislature voted to approve pay raises for the county executive and three other countywide elected positions, and also adopted a new pay structure that provides automatic annual raises tied to the consumer price index for the positions of county executive, county comptroller, sheriff and county clerk. The pay for these positions has not been raised in nearly 23 years.

Queens Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez scolded media outlets for reporting that she lives in a luxury high-rise building in Washington, DC, around the time she and other high-profile Democrats appeared on a hit list compiled by a Maryland man arrested for allegedly planning a mass terror attack.

CNN’s Chris Cuomo said he fears for his family’s safety after his name was found on a list of Democratic politicians and journalists targeted by a US Coast Guard officer who allegedly wanted to carry out a mass attack.

Ocasio-Cortez blasted the “wack billboard” in Times Square that was paid for by a conservative group to criticize her part in Amazon’s decision to ditch a plan to build a second headquarters in Queens.

James Patchett, president of the NYC Economic Development Corporation, said the Amazon deal was botched from the get-go.

Federal officials have picked their monitor to oversee the embattled New York City Housing Authority: Bart Schwartz, a former prosecutor with ties to Cuomo, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and controversial activist Lenora Fulani.

Three weeks after New York’s ethics watchdog panel, JCOPE, voted behind closed doors whether to investigate the activities of a former top aide to Cuomo, there has been no indication that the commission moved forward with any inquiry.

Forty-three TV shows and movies took $1.2 billion in New York state tax breaks from 2015 to mid-2018, state records show. New York sets aside a generous $420 million a year for tax breaks for film studios that make movies and TV shows in the state – that’s more than any other tax break program.

Privileged parkers will lose their NYC-issued placards if they get caught abusing them three times, officials said.

Basil Seggos, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, who announced his resignation back in November, has changed his mind and officially decided to stay on the job.

An official with the Upstate New York Poison Center is warning the public not to use the herbal supplement kratom because it can cause rapid heartbeat, other serious health problems and even death.

Miley Cyrus said her inspiration to marry husband Liam Hemsworth came not just from her love for the Australian actor, but also her love for Hillary Clinton.

Clinton held meetings in early February with former Vice President Joe Biden and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar to talk about the 2020 presidential election, a source close to the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee tells CNN.

The New York City School Bus Coalition continues its push to ensure protections for school bus matrons, drivers and mechanics, this time as part of the state budget. In 2016, both houses passed a bill codifying what is known as Employee Protection Provisions. However, the provisions were vetoed by Governor Cuomo who said at the time that there was no funding in the budget for the additional protections. This time around, “Driving Our Future,” a group that includes labor groups, contractors and parents, wants to bypass the legislative process and make it a budgetary item.

Driving our future has released a new ad which focuses on driver’s and matrons who take children with special needs to and from school. The ad, which will begin on digital but could expand to cable, was produced by the very talented Jimmy Siegel of Siegel strategies, who has done work for Governor Cuomo and others.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in Albany with no public events or interviews scheduled as of yet.

The state Legislature and Congress are not in session, as lawmakers are on their mid-winter breaks.

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli is still in Rome, Italy.

Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence travel to Columbia, South Carolina, where they will participate in a tour of an Opportunity Zone and the VP will deliver remarks at The Meeting Place Church.

The Pences will then return to Washington, where they will join the president at the White House for a reception for National African American History Month.

At 7 a.m., state Sen. Andrew Gounardes and members and advocates with the Riders Alliance will take the state legislative subway ride-along series to R train riders in Bay Ridge to document the depth of the transit crisis as momentum builds toward congestion pricing, 77th Street Subway Station (Brooklyn), enter at NE corner of 4th Avenue and 77th Street (Manhattan-bound R train).

At 9 a.m. , state Sen. Rachel May holds a regional hearing on the Climate and Community Protection Act, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Gateway Center, 1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse.

At 11 a.m., AARP, TransitCenter and other advocates join Assembly members Richard Gottfried, Linda Rosenthal, Harvey Epstein, Jo Anne Simon and Robert Rodriguez to call on Cuomo and the state Legislature to fund subway station elevators, 25th Street and Eighth Avenue, Manhattan.

Also at 11:30 a.m., Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. delivers his State of the Borough address, Health, Education and Research Occupations High School, Samuel Gompers Campus, 455 Southern Blvd., the Bronx.

Also at noon, Rep. Joe Morelle will host a media availability after meeting with members of the Rochester chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Keating Federal Office Building, 100 State St., Basement Conference Room, Rochester.

A former Trump campaign staffer filed a class action seeking to invalidate all of the nondisclosure and nondisparagement agreements that the Trump campaign required all staffers to sign.

President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to refuse “ISIS bride” Hoda Muthana reentry into the United States.

Muthana does not qualify for citizenship and has no legal basis to return to the country, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

Muthana’s family insists she’s a U.S. citizen, and offered proof through an attorney.

The commander-in-chief set off a fiery exchange with one of his most inflammatory anti-media insults — this one prompted by yet another damning news story about his administration in the Times.

Job Creators Network, a conservative advocacy group with close ties to the powerful Mercer family, paid for a Times Square billboard that blames Queens Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for the death of the Amazon HQ2 deal.

Ocasio-Cortez went on a Twitter tear accusing people of undermining her intelligence over statements she made about Amazon’s failed move to the Big Apple.

Snopes.com: “Ocasio-Cortez was not the sole force behind Amazon’s withdrawing their plan to open a site in New York City, and many other public officials and residents opposed the plan as well. Long Island City, where HQ2 was slated to be located, is also not in her district.”

Roseanne Barr is apparently not a fan of Ocasio-Cortez, calling her a “Farrakhan-loving…bug-eyed b@#$*h” who is costing “hundreds of people decent-paying jobs” with her so-called Green New Deal.

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris, of California, will trek to Harlem today for a lunch meeting at the the soul food restaurant Sylvia’s with the Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist’s National Action Network announced.

Harris’ Jamaican father blasted her for saying she smoked marijuana and supports it becoming legalized, claiming she’s playing “identity politics.” Donald Harris, an economics professor at Stanford University, said she is harming her family’s Jamaican ancestors.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sternly warned the United States against deploying new missiles in Europe, saying Wednesday that Russia will retaliate by fielding new weapons that will take just as little time to reach their targets.

French judges ordered the financial giant UBS to pay a record 3.7 billion euro fine, about $4.2 billion, for carrying out what prosecutors said was a long-running scheme to help French clients hide huge sums of money from the authorities.

Months after the Trump administration announced an end to its widescale separation of migrant parents and children, the policy remains a heated issue in the courts and at the border as critics contend the government is still needlessly breaking up immigrant families.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency intends to set a safety limit for exposure to a cancer-causing chemical that has tainted public drinking water in Rensselaer County, although what the standard will be and when that will happen remain to be seen, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced.

Michael Cohen will testify publicly before Congress on Feb. 27 on an array of topics linked to his former boss and client, Trump, the House Oversight Committee said.

Cohen can remain a free man for a bit longer than initially planned so he can recover from shoulder surgery and testify before Congress, a federal judge in Manhattan ruled.

“Empire” actor Jussie Smollet was charged last night with lying to cops when he claimed to be the victim of a racist and homophobic attack — and authorities want him to surrender, police said.

Producers for “Empire” are reportedly considering whether to suspend Smollett after he was charged with a felony.

Law enforcement officials said a grand jury had heard evidence that Smollett falsely reported being attacked in a case that quickly drew national attention, and that local prosecutors had then charged him with a felony count of disorderly conduct.

Former NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who was hand-picked by Mayor Bill de Blasio, now says he’s running the city on autopilot and “seems to lack focus.”

The seven leading candidates running for public advocate took turns blasting de Blasio for eyeing the White House instead of his job at City Hall during their second and final debate, with none of them saying they thought New York’s two-term mayor should head to Washington.

The race for public advocate is already the most expensive special election in New York City’s history — and candidates are just getting started.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr is preparing to announce as early as next week the completion of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, with plans for Barr to then submit a summary of Mueller’s confidential report to Congress.

President Donald Trump is preparing to establish a panel to examine how climate change affects national security, and will include a White House adviser whose views are sharply at odds with the established scientific consensus that human-caused global warming poses a threat to the nation’s economy, health and security.

The publisher of The New York Times excoriated Trump after the commander-in-chief declared the newspaper the “true enemy of the people” in light of a damning report about his alleged attempts to interfere in ongoing criminal investigations.

Though former Vice President Joe Biden has said publicly he hasn’t made up his mind on pursuing a presidential run in 2020, some politicos close to the politician, who have spoken with him in private, say they believe he will mount a bid.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, one of several Democrats running for president in 2020, offered to buy an Iowa woman pizza after she inadvertently interrupted a Gillibrand campaign event to get some ranch dressing in a clip that has gone viral.

Just over 24 hours after announcing his presidential bid, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has already raised $6 million from more than 225,000 donors, his campaign said Wednesday morning.

Southwest Airlines lost $60 million because of the government shutdown, the company said. That’s far more than its original estimate of $10 to $15 million in losses, and it adds to a litany of recent problems for the airline.

Some close to the White House believe that Dan Coats may soon be ousted as Trump’s top intelligence official, a move that would draw ire from Capitol Hill and likely raise new concerns about the administration’s national security apparatus.

The Manhattan Institute has named Reihan Salam, former executive editor of the National Review, as president. He will succeed the outgoing president, Lawrence J. Mone, who has been with the Institute for 37 years, 24 at its helm.

The Onondaga County Conservative Committee has endorsed Republican attorney Gary Lavine to run for District Attorney. In recent elections, the party has backed Lavine’s opponent, seven-term incumbent District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, also a Republican.

Sen. Mike Gianaris, post-Amazon: “I and many of my colleagues are taking a holistic approach to economic development reforms — for example, an interstate compact to say that we won’t participate in these contests that end up pitting states against each other.”

After his marriage to country music star Miranda Lambert, NYPD Officer Brendan McLoughlin, who normally patrols Times Square on foot, has been temporarily reassigned to a more covert position because the media has been hounding him while he’s on the job.

Cuomo announced that $23.6 million has been awarded to airports across the state for safety improvements and to modernize them.

Lisa Cater, whose claims of sexual harassment against former state economic development official Sam Hoyt made headlines around the state in 2017, said she will not appeal the decision of a Manhattan federal judge to dismiss her civil suit.

Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who was to report early next month to begin serving a three-year prison sentence, was granted a two-month delay before he must surrender to the authorities.

For years, Margaret Markey, a former Queens assemblywoman, pushed for the Child Victims Act, which recently passed. She did not talk about it, but her effort was driven by her son’s own incident of abuse by a priest at the Catholic parish where their family had worshiped for generations.

SUNY Chancellor Kristina Johnson, who has made it a priority to get SUNY to adopt renewable energy sources, serves on the board of directors of an energy company criticized for a controversial coal plant in Puerto Rico.

Syracuse University leaders are taking steps to address students’ concerns after an off-campus assault earlier this month left three students with minor injuries.

Chicago’s top prosecutor recused herself from the investigation into the attack reported by “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett shortly after police requested another interview with the actor.

Thousands of police officers from across the country lined the streets of Hampton Bays to salute fallen New York City police Det. Brian Simonsen at his funeral, where he was remembered for his dedication.

At noon, state Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assemblyman Robert Carroll will hold a press conference to announce, “The Golden Rule,” a bill restricting the use of campaign funds at a business owned by a candidate or candidate’s family, 250 Broadway, Suite 1930, Manhattan.

Also at noon, José Nieves announces his candidacy for Queens County district attorney, in front of Queens Supreme Court building, 88-11 Sutphin Blvd., Queens.

At 1 p.m., NYC Councilmen Ydanis Rodriguez, Ruben Diaz Sr. and Fernando Cabrera, alongside taxi drivers, call for a bailout program for certain taxi medallion owners based on the financial crisis of each individual owner, outside High Class City Services, 1700 Jerome Ave., the Bronx.

At 3 p.m., Salazar and members and advocates with the Riders Alliance will take the state legislative subway ride-along train to Brooklyn to document the depth of the transit crisis as momentum builds toward congestion pricing, Broadway Junction Subway Station – Top of the Escalator Leading to the J/Z and L trains.

Also at 3 p.m., Win hosts a NYC public advocate candidate forum, which is not open to the public, with Michael Blake, Rafael Espinal Jr., Melissa Mark-Viverito, Dawn Smalls and Jumaane Williams, Win’s East River Family Shelter, 325 E. 104th St., Manhattan.

At 6 p.m., state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and state Sen. Shelley Mayer will host a Black History Month Celebration at the White Plains Public Library with a free screening of the documentary “Chisholm ‘72: Unbought & Unbossed,” 100 Martine Ave., White Plains.

Justice Clarence Thomas called for the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the landmark 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan ruling, which protects news organizations from most libel suits when they write about public figures.

The family of the Covington Catholic teen seen at a protest is suing The Washington Post for $250 million in damages over the newspaper’s coverage of the incident.

As he mulls a potential campaign for president, former Vice President Joe Biden sharply criticized President Trump during a speech at the University of Pennsylvania.

Former Queens Rep. Joe Crowley, whose upset primary loss to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was THE story of the 2018 cycle, has landed a job at one of Washington’s top lobbying firms, Squire Patton Boggs, along with former Republican Rep. Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania, who retired last year.

The feds are reportedly now probing whether “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett was involved in sending a suspicious letter to himself a week before the alleged hate attack in Chicago that has now also been called into question.

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has decided to postpone its ban on foods and drinks infused with cannabidiol, a chemical in marijuana, until the summer after it began enforcement of the products earlier this month.

Some early tax filers are receiving an unpleasant surprise: Their federal tax refunds are smaller than they expected. The Internal Revenue Service said the average refund so far this year was down nearly 9 percent, to $1,949 from $2,135 a year ago.

The lucky winner of the largest jackpot in New York Lottery history is a group of Long Island co-workers who claimed the cash through a limited liability company called New Life 2019 LLC, which has allowed the members to stay anonymous.

A Lancaster elementary school principal was arrested last week in Clarence and charged with drunken driving, State Police reported. She has been put on leave.

A former supervisor with the Town of Grand Island’s senior center stole $116,000 in cash over a six-year period to feed her gambling habit, Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn said.

Buffalo has become the first major Upstate New York city to crack the 100-inch snow mark this year, but that’s still good for only 38th place in the state.

An Onondaga County sheriff’s deputy tripled his pay last year under overtime rules the county executive is seeking to change.

The City Council of Hoorn in the Netherlands voted to end its financial support of the Half Moon next year, throwing into doubt the future of the Albany-built replica of a ship explorer Henry Hudson sailed in 1609 up the river that bears his name.

CNN announced it has hired longtime Republican operative Sarah Isgur as political editor, charged with shaping its 2020 campaign coverage. She most recently worked as the Department of Justice’s main spokesperson under then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and has no prior journalism experience.

Two Queens politicians who were vocal critics of the Amazon project for Long Island City are facing blowback from business owners and community members.

“For so long, people usually have to go out and find their member of Congress,” New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said. “We decided, what happens if we flip the script and we go to where people are?”

For the first time in five years, the state Senate held an MTA oversight hearing Tuesday, in part, exploring congestion pricing and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to radically restructure the agency.

Federal housing administrator Lynne Patton’s stay at another city public housing housing complex is already off to a rocky start. The HUD official was stuck inside an elevator for about 20 minutes late Tuesday morning at the Frederick Douglass Houses on the Upper West Side.

Could a separation of upstate and downstate New York actually happen? Answering that question is the goal of a study proposed by Sen. Daphne Jordan.

Since taking office in 2011, Governor Cuomo has closed 24 prisons and juvenile detention centers as the state saw a decline in prison population. While he’s looking at shuttering three more upstate facilities to fill a budget gap, the corrections officers union worries about the impact the communities that rely on these jobs.

Sixteen different states have filed a lawsuit to stop President Donald Trump from using emergency powers to build a wall at the Mexico border. However, an Albany teacher says there’s a bigger crisis at the border: the detainment of immigrant children.

Rochester Institute of Technology issued an apology Tuesday after a racist photograph was identified in a student-produced yearbook.

A New York State Appeals Court ruled Tuesday that police body camera footage can be accessed by the public under state law.

President Donald Trump reportedly asked former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker late last year whether the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, a Trump ally, could take over the investigation into money paid to two women who alleged they had affairs with the president, among other subjects

Trump’s response to the New York Times report: “No I didn’t. There’s a lot of fake news out there.”

After months of deliberation, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, 77, announced that he is running for president again in 2020. It will be Sanders’ second consecutive bid for the Democratic nomination after losing to Hillary Clinton in 2016.

“I think the current occupant of the White House is an embarrassment to our country,” Sanders said. “I think he is a pathological liar. Every day he is telling one lie or another, and it gives me no pleasure to say that. I also think he is a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, a xenophobe, somebody who is gaining cheap political points by trying to pick on minorities, often undocumented immigrants.”

In his announcement, Sanders played up the fact that policy positions he’s long championed – universal health care, income equality, free college tuition for all – have gained significant traction within the Democratic party, including among some of his fellow 2020 bidders.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee announced they are launching an investigation into the Trump administration’s dealings with Saudi Arabia after several whistleblowers expressed concern about efforts to sell the kingdom nuclear technology.

Voters wanting to know more about Michael Bloomberg’s tenure as NYC mayor as he considers a presidential run won’t get much useful information from the New York City archives, although theoretically hundreds of thousands of important records and communications should be available six years after he left office.

A federal judge has ordered longtime Republican operative Roger Stone to court on Thursday to explain why he should not have his criminal release bond modified or even revoked because of his recent Instagram post showing the judge next to what appeared to be a rifle scope’s crosshairs.

Superstar fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld has died, aged 85, in Paris. The German designer, who was the creative director for Chanel and Fendi, was one of the industry’s most prolific figures, and worked up until his death.

Cuomo’s proposed budget will change the way the disabled individuals on Medicaid manage their aides, which has disabled advocates upset.

Amazon’s decision to abort its New York City deal last week provoked conflicts across the ideological spectrum, but there was striking agreement on one point: New York State and its cities’ economic development efforts — which in 2018 alone cost $9.9 billion — are due for an overhaul.

For voters cheering Amazon’s departure, there is no shortage of like-minded public advocate candidates to choose from. But for those unhappy with the company’s exit — and the loss of the 25,000 jobs the company had promised to create — Republican NYC Councilman Eric Ulrich may be a logical choice.

Cuomo is once again proposing a new name for the state agency that assists veterans with benefit claims and appeals.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider a defamation lawsuit against convicted sexual predator Bill Cosby by one of his many accusers.

HUD executive Lynne Patton found herself trapped for about 15 minutes inside an elevator that stopped without warning while she was touring the Frederick Douglass Houses, a NYCHA housing development in Harlem. (She said she didn’t blame the authority, and believed she and the people she was with had overloaded the elevator).

NYC restaurants are trying to cut costs through a variety of approaches – including reducing hours and jobs – to keep up with the $15/hour minimum wage increase.

The DCCC released its “2020 Retirement Watch List” of Republicans who may decide to retire before the 2020 election, and NY-27 Republican Rep. Chris Collins’ name is on it. The committee, which is charged with electing more Democrats to the House, is also running digital ads in Collins’ district to highlight his possible retirement.

The New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association argues that three closures proposed by Cuomo would cause overcrowding and increased danger at state’s remaining prisons, while harming the towns where the facilities are located.

State Budget Director Robert Mujica said a decline in expected tax revenue, rising costs of health care and a challenging environment in Washington D.C. led the state last week to eliminate a proposed $550 million boost to Medicaid for fiscal 2020, which starts April 1.

The West Virginia woman who grabbed national headlines in 2016 for calling Michelle Obama an “ape” has pleaded guilty to embezzling thousands of dollars in federal disaster relief.

Rapper 50 Cent has pulled a social media “strap” on an NYPD commander being investigated for making a threat against the celebrity’s life.

At 9:30 a.m., Deputy Senate Majority Leader Mike Gianaris and members and advocates with the Riders Alliance will kick off a series of subway ride-alongs with state legislators to document the depth of the transit crisis as momentum builds toward congestion pricing, center of the Queens-bound elevated train platform at Queensboro Plaza Station.

At 10 a.m., the state Senate holds a hearing on transportation, 250 Broadway, Manhattan.

At 11:45 a.m., LG Kathy Hochul and Secretary to the Governor and Chair of the New York State Council on Women and Girls Melissa DeRosa unveil the 2019 Women’s Justice Agenda, Lincoln Center, 165 W. 65th St., Manhattan.

At noon, youth leaders call on de Blasio to eliminate the use of arrests, summons, and juvenile reports in schools for violations and misdemeanors, and reallocate $200 million for school security infrastructure to expand restorative practices citywide, and increase the number of guidance counselors, social workers, and mental health supports available in school, City Hall steps, Manhattan.

Also at noon, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio will make an announcement about Vision Zero, I.S. 259 William McKinley, 7305 Fort Hamilton Pkwy., Brooklyn.

De Blasio will then will attend the wake of NYPD Detective Brian Simonsen, an event that is not open to members of the media.

At 6 p.m., Rep. Adriano Espaillat hosts a State of the District to provide an update on his legislative agenda and priorities, Our Children’s Foundation, 527 W. 125th St., Manhattan.

At 7 p.m., de Blasio and NYC First Lady McCray will host a Black History Month Celebration, where they will honor Me Too Founder Tarana Burke, American Museum of Natural History, Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, 79th Street & Central Park West, Manhattan.

Headlines…

A total of 16 states – including New York – have joined together in a lawsuit against President Trump’s emergency declaration to fund a multi-billion dollar wall across the Mexican border.

The lawsuit was filed in Federal District Court in San Francisco and claims that the president does not have power to divert funds because Congress controls spending, according to the California attorney general’s office.

The White House announcement last week that it would seek to divert $3.6 billion in military construction money for U.S.-Mexico border wall construction under the national emergency declaration sent lawmakers scrambling to find out if local projects would take a hit. Fort Drum outside Watertown appears safe for now.

Trump delivered his sharpest warning yet to Venezuela’s military authorities in an increasingly tense showdown over that country’s crisis, proclaiming they would “lose everything” by remaining loyal to President Nicolás Maduro and refusing to allow in emergency aid stockpiled on the border.

Democratic Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth says her colleagues are prepared to block Trump’s declaration of a national emergency, which he celebrated at the golf course a day after the announcement.

A record-breaking number of Americans say “poor leadership” is the biggest problem facing the U.S., according to a new Gallup poll.

A Justice Department official says Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is expected to leave his position in the middle of next month.

It came as no surprise that snow squalls and subfreezing temperatures served as the backdrop for another 2020 contender, Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, as she made her first visit to New Hampshire as a presidential candidate.

California Sen. Kamala Harris, another 2020 Democratic contender, was also in New Hampshire for the first time in her life, and couldn’t escape questions from national reporters about her political ideology and her description of the alleged assault on the actor Jussie Smollett as “an attempted modern day lynching.”

While in the Granite State, Harris said she’s not a democratic socialist, a not-so-veiled distinction setting her apart from New Hampshire voters’ favorite 2016 primary candidate, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Yet another Democratic 2020 contender, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren will unveil a major new initiative today designed to make sure every family can afford high-quality child care, according to several people who have heard about the proposal or seen material describing it in the past week.

The “Empire” star reportedly was so irked that a racist threat letter he says was sent to him didn’t spark public outrage that he hired two men to stage a hate attack on him.

The Vatican has confirmed, apparently for the first time, that its department overseeing the world’s priests has general guidelines for what to do when clerics break celibacy vows and father children.

Roger Stone took aim at the federal judge overseeing his criminal case, blasting her as an “Obama appointed” partisan and posting a photo of her face featuring what appeared to be a cross-hairs symbol.

Stone formally apologized for his controversial Instagram posts about federal district court Judge Amy Berman Jackson in a letter filed with the court.

“Please inform the court that the photograph and comment today was improper and should not have been posted,” Stone wrote in the signed mea culpa. “I had no intention of disrespecting the court and humbly apologize to the court for the transgression.”

NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson apologized for retweeting a story about the number of people shot and killed by cops in the US compared to the UK — just after a city detective was shot dead by friendly fire in a Queens robbery.

Taxi drivers and medallion owners are in a state of panic over Johnson’s axing of the council’s for-hire vehicle committee, which had been Ruben Diaz Sr.’s pet assignment.

Hate crimes are up across NYC, but in Crown Heights, home to a large Orthodox Jewish community, they have taken a particularly violent turn.

Amazon is showing no sign of abandoning plans to build a $100 million fulfillment center in the town of Schodack after the online retail giant backed out of a $3 billion deal to build a massive new headquarters in Long Island City, but opponents to the upstate project are re-energized.

A group of Senate Democrats, including several 2020 contenders, have introduced legislation that would prevent President Trump from using disaster relief funds to finance a wall along the southern border.

The president lashed out at former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe for his “many lies” and suggested McCabe and other top Justice Department officials acted illegally when they allegedly discussed using the 25th Amendment to oust Trump.

Since announcing his 2020 bid earlier this month, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker has talked in personal terms about racism — his parents’ struggle with housing discrimination in the 1960s, for example — and the need to have “honest conversations” about race.

New York Timothy Cardinal Dolan held a press conference to reaffirm the archdiocese’s “commitment to helping pregnant women in need” while remaining opposed to abortion amid Cuomo’s backing of the state’s Reproductive Health Act.

New York City doesn’t want people to have their hairstyles held against them, and it has unveiled novel anti-discrimination guidelines.

Under new guidelines, released by the New York City Commission on Human Rights, the targeting of people based on their hair or hairstyle, at work, school or in public spaces, will now be considered racial discrimination.

Morgan Creek Digital has scored what it says is probably the first investment in the crypto asset universe from a U.S. pension fund.

Boeing has emerged as one of the major corporate donors helping fund former President Barack Obama’s library and museum in Chicago. The aerospace giant gave $10 million to the project ahead of Obama’s address to managers at a five-star Scottsdale resort in early January.

Obama does not see it as his role to settle the 2020 Democratic nomination, and prefers to let the primary unfold as a contest of ideas. Michelle Obama, the former first lady, reportedly also has no plans to endorse a candidate.

Though he won’t formally endorse anyone, Obama has been meeting with would-be Democratic presidential nominees, and offering them advice. He has reportedly pushed candidates to counter Trump’s dystopian vision of America and go after the voters who are increasingly abandoning the Democratic party.

Although they are still in the early stages of building out their 2020 presidential campaigns, campaign officials with nine of the top 10 2020 hopefuls say they are prioritizing protections against sexual harassment and misconduct much more than those in the past.

The Rev. Al Sharpton said actor Jussie Smollett should face “accountability to the maximum” if it’s found the actor staged an attack he claimed was perpetrated by men yelling racist and homophobic language.

The Buffalo News sides with Cuomo in the debate over who’s to blame for the death of the Amazon deal, writing: “Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins made decisions that all but guaranteed the project would fail. It was unfortunate leadership.”

A 20-week-old fetus was discovered this morning under a tree in Brooklyn across the street from a park and a junior high school, police said.

For the fourth winter in six years, Buffalo has topped 100 inches of snowfall.

Alec Baldwin, who won an Emmy for playing Trump in a recurring guest role on “SNL,” questioned if Trump’s tweet complaining about the actor’s most recent appearance on the show “constitutes a threat” to him and his family.

Researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute for Technology Assessments (MGH-ITA) estimate that restricting access to prescription opioids will have minimal effects on the opioid overdose epidemic, which they project to increase in the future.

Brooklyn Councilman Jumaane Williams, a NYC public advocate candidate, as a driving record that’s worse than previously reported.

Currently there is no expungement procedure in New York, and the governor’s office has indicated he prefers sealing when it comes to low-level marijuana convictions – should recreational use become legal. But advocates say expungement would remove ambiguity.

Daniel Casale, a town councilman, who also serves as a Rensselaer County legislator and a state Senate aide, was charged with drunken driving after he was stopped by a deputy for driving without his headlights on, according to the Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Office and court records.

The Town of Tonawanda police chief has temporarily shut down the department’s SWAT team after two recent episodes that left one member charged with driving while intoxicated and another under investigation by the Erie County District Attorney’s Office.

A Central New York man was the top hunter and won $2,280 in the 12th Annual Statewide 3-Day Coyote Contest hosted by the Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs of Sullivan County.

The US sailor famously photographed planting a kiss on a woman in Times Square at the end of World War II died Sunday at the age of 95.

At 11 a.m., NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson will host “#BreakThePatent Rally with NYC Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, former state Sen. Tom Duane, PrEP4All Collaboration (#BreakThePatent Campaign) and Advocates” at the New York City AIDS Memorial, Manhattan.

At 11:30 a.m., municipal leaders will call on the Legislature to reject Governor Cuomo’s proposal that fails to properly and fully fund the vitally important AIM program to communities across the state, Marriot Marquis, 4th Fl., Ziegfeld Room, Times Square, 1535 Broadway, Manhattan.

At 7 p.m., NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio will appear live on NY1’s “Inside City Hall” with Errol Louis.

Headlines…

Businesses and government agencies in the United States have been targeted in aggressive attacks by Iranian and Chinese hackers who security experts believe have been energized by President Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal last year and his trade conflicts with China.

A “sophisticated state actor” conducted a cyber attack at Australia’s Parliament House this month that breached the systems of the nation’s major political parties, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vowed to investigate whether the top officials at the Justice Department and the FBI plotted an “attempted bureaucratic coup” to remove Trump from office, and said he would subpoena the former agency director and the deputy attorney general if necessary.

Graham called for the investigation into FBI former deputy director Andrew McCabe after his assertion during a “60 Minutes” interview that there had at one point been talk of trying to remove Trump from office under the 25th Amendment.

In one of his first conversations with Trump after becoming acting FBI director, the president asked McCabe about his “loser” wife, who had lost a state senate race in 2015 and was given money by then Virginia governor and close Clinton ally Terry McAuliffe’s political action committee.

Former Rep. Anthony Weiner, who has been released from federal prison after serving about 15 months for sending explicit messages to a minor, was transferred to a halfway house in Brooklyn where he will remain under supervision for the rest of his sentence, prison records show.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ camp is reportedly in talks with Brooklyn College about giving a major outdoor speech at the campus, fueling speculation that the rally there would be part of a roll-out for a second presidential run.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand visited Dartmouth, from which she graduated in 1988, becoming the first 2020 contender to campaign on the New Hampshire campus this cycle.

Republicans are seeking to demonize Democrats well in advance of the 2020 elections by painting them as left-wing crazies who will destroy the American economy, murder newborn babies and turn a blind eye to bigotry against Jews.

White House adviser Stephen Miller defended Trump’s emergency declaration in an interview Sunday and blasted former President George W. Bush of betraying the country by allowing illegal border crossings to increase.

An initial background check failed to detect a felony conviction that should have barred the man who killed five co-workers and wounded six other people at a suburban Chicago manufacturing plant from buying the gun.

The DN’s Ken Lovett pens a farewell column: “After 30 years as a reporter — and seven straight years of never missing a single Monday with the column—I am leaving the Daily News and the journalism business.”

Appearing on “Meet the Press,” NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said Queens Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was wrong to have claimed the collapse of the Amazon deal would free up $3 billion to fix the city’s subways and hire more teachers.

The Democratic mayor said: “And that $3 billion that would go back in tax incentives was only after we were getting the jobs and getting the revenue.”

Writing in the NY Times, de Blasio says: “The lesson here is that corporations can’t ignore rising anger over economic inequality anymore…Amazon’s capricious decision to take its ball and go home, in the face of protest, won’t diminish that anger.”

David Leonhardt: “Yes, Amazon’s departure will modestly hurt the city’s economy. But it’s also a victory against bad economic policy.”

Accountable New York, a new issues advocacy group, is going to try to bring out the Republican vote in the Feb. 26 public advocate election by going after the right’s two top NYC foes — de Blasio and Ocasio Cortez.

An anonymous source tells Crain’s that the governor “will do what he has to get even” with state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris, who already had a pretty crummy relationship with Cuomo, for his key role in killing the Amazon deal.

In a hastily assembled call after the Amazon news, the state Senate Democrats preached unity, with affirmations of solidarity and reassurances that the attacks were misguided. But it was clear that fissures — both within the Senate, and between the Senate and the governor — had emerged.

Former Assemblyman Richard Brodsky: “Cuomo’s congestion pricing proposal for Manhattan is philosophically wrong, wrong on the specifics and politically dangerous. Yet it persists. Part of the reason is that it’s buried in the budget; part is fear of Cuomo. Until Amazon.”

Assemblywoman Latrice Walker, the chair of the Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators, refused to talk about whether the non-profit would award scholarships this year after not awarding any scholarships in 2018.